Trial of jailed Al Jazeera journalists resumes in Cairo court

Three Al Jazeera journalists, jailed in Egypt since December, appeared in court for the 11th time on Thursday. The defense questioned evidence presented by the prosecution, which has alleged the journalists smeared the reputation of Egypt, aided terrorists, and doctored news footage.

Al Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were arrested on terrorism charges in December, and have been detained since. The Egyptian police accused Al Jazeera English in Cairo of being a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood and using their broadcast location at the Marriott hotel as a meeting venue for Muslim Brotherhood members, an organization the Egyptian government has designated a terrorist group.

In court on Thursday, the defense restated its view that the trial is a farce and charged that prosecutors have yet to produce incriminating evidence. The defense revisited inconsistencies apparent in written and oral testimonies concerning the audio-visual evidence submitted by the prosecution.

The case of the three journalists has been portrayed around the world as an attack on press freedom, even prompting a social media campaign with the hash-tag #FreeAJStaff. But within Egypt, many feel the Arabic section of the al-Jazeera network has shown bias against the Egyptian government.

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